Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2016 16:23:45 GMT -5
With all the negativity these characters get on the site, I feel that there should be a dedicated positive thread for them. 
For all fans of Chris and the Wyatt/Chris story, what got you into the characters so much? Were you disappointed when Chris was killed off and the story was dropped without resolution in Season 7? Did you support the Charmed Sons spinoff campaign back in the day?
Let me start out by sharing an article I wrote back in 2011:
After Shannen Doherty's firing between Seasons 3 and 4, Charmed had fallen into a bit of a rut. Just overnight, Charmed went from being one of the WB's highest rated shows during Season 3 to being at risk for cancellation during Season 4. While Your Mileage May Vary on the actual quality of Season 4's writing, I think most of us can agree that the writing during that season was somewhat inconsistent. Because of Shannen's firing, as well as the drastic ratings drop, previously planned storylines had to be constantly altered and moved around at the last minute--nowhere is this more evident than with the Dark Phoebe storyline, which Shannen's firing pushed back to early Season 5 (from early Season 4) and low ratings bumped up to late Season 4 (from early Season 5).
The low ratings of Season 4 had an impact on how Season 5 turned out, as well. Because of how Charmed was renewed for Season 5 at the 11th hour, showrunner Brad Kern was left without a clear direction for the show, post-"Witch Way Now." To try to fill up the season, he pretty much threw everything--fairy tales, stalker!Cole, superheroes, Freebie, etc--at the show, hoping it would stick. The results, predictably, weren't pretty. While Season 5's ratings did improve from Season 4's, it was still a far cry from the success the show enjoyed in the first 3 seasons. Long-time viewers were clearly getting bored and frustrated with the show and the laughing joke it was quickly becoming.
Then, come the Season 5 finale, we get a glimmer of hope for the show--a mysterious young man from the future who goes by the name of "Chris Perry" (Played by Drew Fuller). While the actual episode, "Oh My Goddess," was nothing great--the whole idea of the sisters becoming Greek goddesses was ridiculous and turned off a lot of fans--many viewers were interested in Chris' character almost as soon as he showed up. Was he evil? Was he a Halliwell? Why did he come back to the past? Those were some of the questions viewers asked upon his arrival.
Fans became even more interested in Chris by the time Season 6 started, and they saw Drew in the show's opening credits. While the season's writing, overall, was more of the same old fluff from Season 5, Chris and the mystery that surrounded his character actually gave fans a reason to watch. Chris' storyline would reach a powerful climax with the episode, "Chris-Crossed," where viewers got to literally see the future Chris came from, including an evil dictator Wyatt, and get a clear look at his motivations for coming back. With 6 million viewers, "Chris-Crossed" was the highest rated non-finale episode the show had seen since Season 3, and Season 6 would go on to be the highest rated season since Shannen’s firing.
After "Chris-Crossed," fans were even more drawn to Chris' character, especially after he dropped the little bomb in "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell" that he was Wyatt's brother. Many people began to think that Chris and his brother, Wyatt, had great spinoff potential and began planning out a hypothetical series and writing Chris & Wyatt fanfiction, among other things.
Then, the Season 6 finale, "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World," aired, and the hopes of many a Chris fan were crushed. Since Kern decided to fire Drew for unknown reasons at the end of Season 6, Chris' character was killed off in the finale, and in Season 7, the Chris & Wyatt storyline was completely dropped in favor of Nick Lachey, Brody, and Avatars. As you can expect, the ratings went back into the toilet during Season 7 (the show would get cancelled at the end of the season), and the fans who had followed Chris throughout Season 6 were completely pissed off.
Many bitter fans started channeling their anger into a Chris & Wyatt spinoff campaign, called "The Charmed Sons" (or, TCS, for short). They started a site, wrote letters, bought ads, and discussed spinoff ideas, among other things, hoping that someone would listen to them and give the Chris & Wyatt storyline the treatment it deserved.
Kern, however, had other plans. He had zero interest in doing anything else with Chris & Wyatt and wanted to do a spinoff about mermaids instead. He even managed to get a pilot episode written and filmed, although it was obviously rejected (Gee, I wonder why?). When the mermaid idea failed, he turned to Plan B, two blonde teenage witch sisters who go by the name of Billie and Christy Jenkins (or, Swillie & Biousty, as their many detractors called them). They and their storyline (which, as many have observed, was basically ripped off from Chris & Wyatt) would become the main focus of Charmed after the, then, dying WB un-cancelled the show for Season 8. Luckily, the death of the WB, as well as Kaley Cuoco's (ie. Billie) refusal to do a spinoff, would forever kill the Billie & Christy spinoff idea.
Unfortunately, the Chris & Wyatt spinoff idea would eventually die, as well. While Kern did give TCS fans table scraps in the form of "Someone to Witch Over Me," "Imaginary Friends" and a few Chris & Wyatt scenes in the 2nd series finale, "Forever Charmed," nothing would ultimately come out of the TCS spinoff campaign. No TV or movie spinoff would ever get greenlit, the Charmed novels would discontinue without ever spinning off into a TCS series, and no TCS comic book series would ever be drawn up (It's very telling that Zenescope found it more profitable to do a comic continuation of Charmed rather than a spinoff with Chris & Wyatt). It probably doesn't help that the flash-forward at the end of "Forever Charmed" effectively shut off any means of doing a TCS spinoff (aka. "Mystery Girl") and that the main TCS campaign site would eventually close for good in 2009, with only a now-abandoned replacement on ProBoards as a remnant of its past glory.
In short, there was a ton of potential in Chris & Wyatt, and Kern blew it. Big time.
For all fans of Chris and the Wyatt/Chris story, what got you into the characters so much? Were you disappointed when Chris was killed off and the story was dropped without resolution in Season 7? Did you support the Charmed Sons spinoff campaign back in the day?
Let me start out by sharing an article I wrote back in 2011:
The Lost Potential of Chris and Wyatt Halliwell
After Shannen Doherty's firing between Seasons 3 and 4, Charmed had fallen into a bit of a rut. Just overnight, Charmed went from being one of the WB's highest rated shows during Season 3 to being at risk for cancellation during Season 4. While Your Mileage May Vary on the actual quality of Season 4's writing, I think most of us can agree that the writing during that season was somewhat inconsistent. Because of Shannen's firing, as well as the drastic ratings drop, previously planned storylines had to be constantly altered and moved around at the last minute--nowhere is this more evident than with the Dark Phoebe storyline, which Shannen's firing pushed back to early Season 5 (from early Season 4) and low ratings bumped up to late Season 4 (from early Season 5).
The low ratings of Season 4 had an impact on how Season 5 turned out, as well. Because of how Charmed was renewed for Season 5 at the 11th hour, showrunner Brad Kern was left without a clear direction for the show, post-"Witch Way Now." To try to fill up the season, he pretty much threw everything--fairy tales, stalker!Cole, superheroes, Freebie, etc--at the show, hoping it would stick. The results, predictably, weren't pretty. While Season 5's ratings did improve from Season 4's, it was still a far cry from the success the show enjoyed in the first 3 seasons. Long-time viewers were clearly getting bored and frustrated with the show and the laughing joke it was quickly becoming.
Then, come the Season 5 finale, we get a glimmer of hope for the show--a mysterious young man from the future who goes by the name of "Chris Perry" (Played by Drew Fuller). While the actual episode, "Oh My Goddess," was nothing great--the whole idea of the sisters becoming Greek goddesses was ridiculous and turned off a lot of fans--many viewers were interested in Chris' character almost as soon as he showed up. Was he evil? Was he a Halliwell? Why did he come back to the past? Those were some of the questions viewers asked upon his arrival.
Fans became even more interested in Chris by the time Season 6 started, and they saw Drew in the show's opening credits. While the season's writing, overall, was more of the same old fluff from Season 5, Chris and the mystery that surrounded his character actually gave fans a reason to watch. Chris' storyline would reach a powerful climax with the episode, "Chris-Crossed," where viewers got to literally see the future Chris came from, including an evil dictator Wyatt, and get a clear look at his motivations for coming back. With 6 million viewers, "Chris-Crossed" was the highest rated non-finale episode the show had seen since Season 3, and Season 6 would go on to be the highest rated season since Shannen’s firing.
After "Chris-Crossed," fans were even more drawn to Chris' character, especially after he dropped the little bomb in "The Legend of Sleepy Halliwell" that he was Wyatt's brother. Many people began to think that Chris and his brother, Wyatt, had great spinoff potential and began planning out a hypothetical series and writing Chris & Wyatt fanfiction, among other things.
Then, the Season 6 finale, "It's a Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World," aired, and the hopes of many a Chris fan were crushed. Since Kern decided to fire Drew for unknown reasons at the end of Season 6, Chris' character was killed off in the finale, and in Season 7, the Chris & Wyatt storyline was completely dropped in favor of Nick Lachey, Brody, and Avatars. As you can expect, the ratings went back into the toilet during Season 7 (the show would get cancelled at the end of the season), and the fans who had followed Chris throughout Season 6 were completely pissed off.
Many bitter fans started channeling their anger into a Chris & Wyatt spinoff campaign, called "The Charmed Sons" (or, TCS, for short). They started a site, wrote letters, bought ads, and discussed spinoff ideas, among other things, hoping that someone would listen to them and give the Chris & Wyatt storyline the treatment it deserved.
Kern, however, had other plans. He had zero interest in doing anything else with Chris & Wyatt and wanted to do a spinoff about mermaids instead. He even managed to get a pilot episode written and filmed, although it was obviously rejected (Gee, I wonder why?). When the mermaid idea failed, he turned to Plan B, two blonde teenage witch sisters who go by the name of Billie and Christy Jenkins (or, Swillie & Biousty, as their many detractors called them). They and their storyline (which, as many have observed, was basically ripped off from Chris & Wyatt) would become the main focus of Charmed after the, then, dying WB un-cancelled the show for Season 8. Luckily, the death of the WB, as well as Kaley Cuoco's (ie. Billie) refusal to do a spinoff, would forever kill the Billie & Christy spinoff idea.
Unfortunately, the Chris & Wyatt spinoff idea would eventually die, as well. While Kern did give TCS fans table scraps in the form of "Someone to Witch Over Me," "Imaginary Friends" and a few Chris & Wyatt scenes in the 2nd series finale, "Forever Charmed," nothing would ultimately come out of the TCS spinoff campaign. No TV or movie spinoff would ever get greenlit, the Charmed novels would discontinue without ever spinning off into a TCS series, and no TCS comic book series would ever be drawn up (It's very telling that Zenescope found it more profitable to do a comic continuation of Charmed rather than a spinoff with Chris & Wyatt). It probably doesn't help that the flash-forward at the end of "Forever Charmed" effectively shut off any means of doing a TCS spinoff (aka. "Mystery Girl") and that the main TCS campaign site would eventually close for good in 2009, with only a now-abandoned replacement on ProBoards as a remnant of its past glory.
In short, there was a ton of potential in Chris & Wyatt, and Kern blew it. Big time.
